2025-26 HSS Tenture-Track Faculty
Welcome Our New Faculty
Representing the humanities and the social sciences, four new faculty members joined Cal State Fullerton's College of Humanities and Social Sciences in the 2025-26 academic year.
Frankie Bauer
History
Frankie Bauer is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a recent PhD graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the American Studies department. His research explores Cherokee intertribal diplomacy and nation-building in the nineteenth-century West. In addition, Bauer is part of the Choctaw Language and History Workshop, an interdisciplinary and interinstitutional group of historians and linguists collaborating to translate and analyze nineteenth-century court documents from the Choctaw (Chahta) Nation. Their research is featured in a forthcoming, solicited edition of the peer-reviewed academic journal Native South. Frankie’s interests include learning Native languages, and he is learning Choctaw (Chahta anumpa) and Cherokee (ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ). Additionally, Frankie is fascinated with the history and evolution of punk rock music.
John Burnett
Political Science
Dr. John Burnett, born and raised in California, has been deeply involved in local politics throughout his life, fueling his passion for civic engagement. As a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, John’s research centers on Indigenous identity and political behavior, with a particular focus on the nuances of indigeneity in the Americas. After teaching for a year in the Department of Administration of Justice at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, John is starting at California State University, Fullerton. His goal is to build a bridge between academia and tribes, so that traditional ways of learning, and the elders who teach us, are incorporated into our curriculum, empowering tribes in the education of their own.
Vanessa Calderon
Psychology
Dr. Vanessa Calderon is an incoming Assistant Professor in the CSUF Department of Psychology. Originally from East Los Angeles, she completed her B.A. in Psychology at Yale University and went on to receive her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Southern California where she also completed a Master of Public Health degree in Community Health Promotion. Dr. Calderon received specialized clinical training in early psychosis as a NIMH-funded T32 postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA Semel Institute. Her research centers on understanding and addressing mental health inequities affecting Latine youth and families. She employs mixed-methods approaches to examine how sociocultural and structural factors shape mental health treatment utilization. Dr. Calderon is dedicated to mentoring and teaching students and advancing inclusive, community-engaged scholarship.
Sarah Chavez
Psychology
Dr. Chavez earned her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Research on Substance Use from UC San Diego and San Diego State University, where she investigated adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among Latinx young adults and examined how mental health symptoms and social support influence the relationship between ACEs and heavy episodic drinking in this group. Additionally, she has an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from CSU, Northridge, and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Redlands. She completed postdoctoral training at Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (T32AA007459) and USC’s eIRTI program (R25DA050687).
Her research investigates the etiology of alcohol/substance use and mental health symptoms in Latinx young adults and college students, with a key emphasis on adversity, culture, and institutional belonging. She aims to develop culturally tailored interventions to mitigate these outcomes.
Hossein Karimi
Psychology
Dr. Hossein Karimi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. His research focuses the cognitive processes underlying human language processing, with a focus on memory, as well as the effect of cognitive aging on language processing and memory. He received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Karimi’s work has been published in journals such as Cognition, and Journal of Memory and Language. He will be running the Cognition of Language Lab (CoLLab) at CSUF.
Jessica HyunJeong Lee
Political Science
Dr. Jessica HyunJeong Lee is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Division of Politics, Administration, and Justice. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and was previously an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Her research focuses on racial and ethnic politics, Asian American politics, immigration, citizenship, political behavior, and social movements. More specifically, her work explores questions at the intersection of policy and political behavior, examining how immigration policies shape identity, attitudes, and behavior among Asian and Latino undocumented immigrants. Her work has been published in journals such as American Political Science Review, Research & Politics, and Social Psychological and Personality Science.
Joo Young (Jewel) Lee
Psychology
Dr. Lee’s research focuses on workforce well-being, with a particular interest in understanding what makes work worthwhile throughout evolving careers. Her work has investigated constructs including career crafting, meaningful work, and PERMA+4 (the building blocks of flourishing at work). Her current research centers on career capacity building, particularly among marginalized workers. Dr. Lee has taught courses in Research Methods, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, and Personnel Psychology. Prior to academia, she held roles at global companies including Samsung, IBM Korea, and Microsoft Korea. She earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Positive Organizational Psychology from Claremont Graduate University, an M.S. in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.B.A. from Yonsei University, and a B.A. from Ewha Womans University.
Justin Lund
Anthropology
Dr. Justin Lund, PhD (Navajo) is a biological anthropologist whose work focuses on Indigenous health, human biology, and the enduring effects of colonialism on well-being. His research integrates community-based methods and Indigenous research frameworks to examine how biology, culture, and environment shape health in Native communities. With a strong commitment to tribal sovereignty and health equity, Dr. Lund collaborates with Tribal Nations, health departments, and grassroots organizations on projects that prioritize self-determination and cultural relevance. His interdisciplinary work bridges anthropology, public health, and Indigenous studies to promote ethical and decolonizing approaches to science. As an educator, he mentors students to critically engage with the social and political dimensions of biological research. Dr. Lund is honored to join the faculty at California State University Fullerton and support community-rooted scholarship.
Anne (Andie) Reid
History
Dr. Anne (Andie) Reid is an historian of eighteenth-century Spanish borderlands, specializing in Indigenous, gender and medical studies. In addition to her doctoral training in history, Andie also brings the experience of building, contributing to, and assisting others in the use of digital humanities projects. A product of the California University System herself, she has been a proud, CFA-affiliated faculty member of the CSUs since 2013, having taught at Cal State Los Angeles, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is excited to be joining the History Department at CSUF. She is especially looking forward to working with campus and community stakeholders in Native American Indigenous Studies (NAIS) program building.
Steven Tran
Psychology
Dr. Steven Tran was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, he where he received his Bachelor’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. His doctoral research in Dr. Robert Gerlai’s lab focused on characterizing the effects of alcohol on behavior and brain neurochemistry in adult zebrafish, establishing an animal model for studying alcohol addiction. Motivated by an interest in how genes and neurons regulate behavior, he pursued postdoctoral training in Dr. David Prober’s lab at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he performed a genetic screen using larval zebrafish to identify genes and neural circuits that regulate sleep. As an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton, his lab employs both larval and adult zebrafish to uncover mechanisms regulating sleep and to investigate how drugs of abuse disrupt sleep patterns.
